


Hey, Let's Marry

by orangelemon (etoilephilante)



Category: ATEEZ (Band)
Genre: 5+1 Things, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, happy birthday to ako!!!!!!, just pure fluff, propose fic, they love each other very much
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-18
Updated: 2020-04-18
Packaged: 2021-03-02 00:28:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,871
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23706139
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/etoilephilante/pseuds/orangelemon
Summary: And of course, Jongho completely forgot his disappointment as he watched a smug grin crease Hongjoong’s eyes, giggling with him.(5 times Jongho tries and fails to propose to Hongjoong, and 1 time they eventually get engaged.)
Relationships: Choi Jongho/Kim Hongjoong
Comments: 12
Kudos: 79





	Hey, Let's Marry

**Author's Note:**

  * For [aguamenting](https://archiveofourown.org/users/aguamenting/gifts).



> HI!!!!! here's a surprise jongjoong!!
> 
> It's a gift for the best and only person ever ako whom i love very very very much and who was born today!! read her fics they're so good, she's a queen @aguamenting
> 
> for ako : i hope you'll appreciate this small jongjoong, happy birthday babe
> 
> please enjoy!

. i.

Everything was perfect.

Jongho was absolutely sure of his plan. The place, the dinner, the atmosphere, the rings waiting in his suit’s pocket – everything was perfect. Jongho felt like he had been born just to feel the delightful anxiety and impatience he was feeling at the moment while he was waiting for the ideal time to get down on his knees and ask Hongjoong to marry him, just like he had been daydreaming of for the past two months.

His plan was simple in the warmest way, just like their relationship.

Jongho remembered when they were both just fresh out of college. Hongjoong was running everywhere, trying to convince tax and financial consultants that he could open his own coffee shop while tiring himself out cleaning movie theaters just like when they had met. Jongho was always there to hug him in their shared bed, whispering into his skin how practice had gone just like Hongjoong asked every night, massaging his knotted back, kissing his boyfriend’s fatigue away from his face. In there, in the small apartment they had just moved in, their newly adopted cat’s fur tickling their feet, Hongjoong had mumbled, half-asleep, into his very attentive ears words that Jongho never forgot.

“Once I open that cat cafe, and we move somewhere bigger than a shoebox, I’ll marry you, your massages are the best.”

Jongho had laughed. Teased his boyfriend – made incoherent by sleepiness – about how he loved him only for his hands. And then said hands had wandered lower, and lower, and Hongjoong forgot entirely about his joke. But Jongho did not.

He felt like his heart would fly out of his chest with how hard it was beating, his fingers almost dropping his fork every time he took it to his mouth from how much they were shaking because of the anticipation.

Hongjoong’s cat cafe was doing well. His boyfriend was happy with taking care of the crowd of cats wandering in his little shop, keeping them to help the city’s rescue center, even though it inevitably brought out their own cat’s jealousy. She always rubbed her fur against their jeans, smugly looking at her peers, reminding them all she was the first one here. They also just moved into a comfortable apartment, closer to both the shop and Jongho’s training center. And Jongho had just won a medal at the last national swimming competition.

Everything was well, the timing was perfect.

The youngest had brought the rings, and he knew Hongjoong would love them. They were not extravagant, but the prettiest to his eyes: two small but strong golden rings decorated with a discreet but shiny pair of ruby and lapis-lazuli stones. Jongho had fallen in love with this sober but elegant set of rings the second his eyes found them, overshadowed by more expensive, more flamboyant sets.

Desert would soon be brought to their table – a chocolate cake, one they shared every time they came to this restaurant. They loved to spend tranquil evenings out, in this restaurant they loved and was just down the street they lived in, it was not unusual enough for Hongjoong to find it weird when Jongho had asked him to dress up and go on a date.

It was not fancy, it was not overly popular either, and Jongho had not asked the waitress to put the ring in the desert – or worse, Hongjoong champagne glass. He would wait for the desert to be brought to their table, fondly gaze at his boyfriend while he was eating, and then it would be the grand moment. Jongho had his speech planned out, it was short, not overly romantic, but full of his sincere feelings.

But it never happened. Jongho was listening to Hongjoong talk, telling him the story of this new kitten he had taken in, when the waitress came to their table with their chocolate cake. The youngest had felt his heartbeat so hard in his ribcage that he could not hear anything but the sound of his blood pulsing in his veins, as the long-awaited moment was getting closer and closer.

An instant he was intensely staring at the desert balanced on the waitress’ palm, and then the next moment, he was looking down at that very same desert pathetically crushed against his chest, straining his white button-up shirt with black chocolate, while the waitress gasped above him looking horrified and his boyfriend was holding a burst of laughter behind his hand.

Hongjoong cry-laughed while the poor waitress profusely apologized to him, promising to bring another cake for free. Jongho just numbly refused, reassuring the girl that he would not get her to be fired. Even though he was indeed quite in disbelief, not fully processing how his perfect, fail-proof plan had actually failed.

“Today my dessert is a chocolate-flavored boyfriend,” Hongjoong ended up only snorting behind his hand, after a moment of silence where Jongho remained still, looking stunned at his boyfriend wipe his tears. Stretching his body above the table to run a finger against Jongho’s chest, he took a piece of cake on the tip of his finger, dramatically bringing it to his lips, ridiculously battling his eyelashes at him. “Only a few are as lucky as I am, right now.”

And of course, Jongho completely forgot his disappointment as he watched a smug grin crease Hongjoong’s eyes, giggling with him.

ii.

Jongho’s second attempt at asking his boyfriend to marry him was also supposed to be a fail-proof plan.

They were walking next to each other the wet sand, their hands brushing, silently playing around, unbothered by the cold wind of fall blowing on the beach. The dark blue sea was angrily washing ashore, white foam dancing on its waves, but something about the weather made Jongho feel at peace, not at all worried by the gray sky.

Hongjoong had woken up that Saturday morning and literally forced him out of bed, suddenly wanting to go to the beach. Jongho had groaned and moaned, wanting to sleep in, but then a light bulb suddenly had lit up in his mind as his eyes caught the sight of the underwear drawer where he had hidden the ring box – proposing on the beach, where there would be no cake to be dropped on his white shirt, would not that be the perfect place?

So he had slipped the rings in his coat’s pocket and had followed his boyfriend to his car, softly smiling at the skip in Hongjoong’s steps.

Hongjoong was acting like he was not intentionally bumping his hand into Jongho’s, his head slightly turned away but failing to hide his smile. Jongho breathed a short laugh out, catching the elder’s bony fingers between his calloused ones and intertwining them, bumping their shoulders.

Hongjoong grinned at him, bringing his body closer and wrapping his other hand around Jongho’s biceps. “Kiss?” He demanded, and the youngest smiled, feeling his heart fill up with love, before bending a little, their lips – chapped by the salty wind – meeting halfway, Hongjoong on the tip of his toes.

As they continued to silently walk on the cold sand, Hongjoong his cheek against Jongho’s shoulder, their fingers still tightly entangled, their steps wholly synchronized, the youngest was entirely sure that he wanted to marry this man.

The most discreetly possible, he sneaked a hand in his pocket. His heart dropped when he could not feel the ring box. A bullet of panic pierced through his body while Jongho started rummaging around each one of his pockets, under his boyfriend’s confused stare.

“What are you looking for?”

Jongho turned his wide eyes to Hongjoong, his head suddenly blank. “Uuuuh...” He tried to find an explanation for his sudden panic without giving away his plan. Hongjoong nervously laughed, tucking a blond lock behind his ear, his hair messed up by the wind, that was getting stronger and stronger.

“I can’t find… uh… my phone?” Jongho said, sounding more like a question, the lack of confidence in his lie showing through his voice.

The smallest giggled, baffled, looking down to his jeans’ back pocket, from where Jongho’s phone was obviously peaking out. “You idiot, it’s right here,” he laughed, letting his hand go and gently tapping his fingers against the outline of the phone, then mockingly but softly slapping Jongho’s butt.

Jongho ran a hand in his brown hair, faking a laugh, ignoring the knot of anxiety inside his stomach at the idea of having lost the rings. He was sure he had put them in his jacket.

The blond splashed water at the brunet, surprising him out of his daze. Hongjoong was standing a few steps away, looking proud of himself. Jongho laughed, praying the ring box was just somewhere in the car and ran after his boyfriend when he started fleeing to avoid his playful wrath.

The ring box was sitting under Jongho’s seat when they came back to Hongjoong’s car.

iii.

Jongho was in love with Hongjoong. And every night, when they laid down on their bed, their limbs entangled, each time he whispered I love you hundreds, thousands, billions of times to his lover, it always felt like his heart was beating even steadier, faster than the night before.

He loved to feel Hongjoong’s small body fit perfectly against his much thicker one. He felt giant next to Hongjoong like he could shield him from everything bad in the world, and at the same time, he felt so small whenever the eldest was wrapped around him like engulfed in a giant safety blanket.

Jongho simply wanted to spend his whole life with Hongjoong, he wanted to grow old together, he wanted to show off their matching rings and proudly yell at everyone how in love he was with his tiny boyfriend.

For that, he would need to succeed at getting that ring around his lover’s finger, and this task proved itself more difficult than planned.

The blond’s arms tightly embracing him, his fingers combing through his hair as he felt him rub his pointy and cold nose against the nape of his neck, half asleep, he thought that now was a perfect time.

“Oh, have you heard about the neighbors? They got married the other day,” Hongjoong sleepily mumbled against his skin. Jongho hummed, closing his eyes, the tip of his fingers drawing abstract patterns against the palm of Hongjoong’s hand, brushing against his stomach.

“They’re cute, good for them,” Jongho muttered in his cushion, his tongue heavy in his mouth from slumber.

Hongjoong breathed a lethargic laugh, making him shiver. “Marriage is for gays,” he giggled, nonsensical. Jongho followed suit.

“We’re gay, babe.”

His lover snorted, nuzzling the hair at the back of his head.

“And what about us?” Jongho attempted, his eyes still closed, as he felt his boyfriend’s breath even out. “I mean, what about we marry too?”

Sure, it was not the most ideal proposal, and Jongho realized it only when it left his lips, numbed by sleep.

A snore answered him. “Hongjoong?”

And Jongho was almost relieved the blond had fallen asleep. He smiled, surrounded by Hongjoong’s warmth.

iv.

This evening was The evening. Jongho would propose to Hongjoong, nothing would stop him.

It was a chilly night, the stars were out, the city lights reflecting in the Han’s water, mirroring the sky, and there was not anyone around, everyone hiding in the warmth of their home. Jongho thought that no matter where he was, as long as he was holding Hongjoong’s hand, he would be warm and at home.

A pleasant silence surrounded them, as Hongjoong was beaming, taking pictures of the city and the river. Jongho could only look at him, his love for the blond shining in his pupils. He loved when Hongjoong was smiling like that, awing at every little thing they found in their way.

The youngest could admit that he had been frightened by self-doubts the whole week. Just earlier that day, he had been sprawled on their friends’ couch, panicking about how he thought that perhaps Hongjoong had noticed his attempts to propose to him and was only slowly turning him down.

To which Yunho had laughed wholeheartedly, with this loud bear laughter of his, smacking him in the head. “Stop spouting bullshit, Hongjoong’s just oblivious,” he had said, standing by his point even when Jongho had asked him if he was sure with a small voice.

So Jongho had decided that night would be the night.

Except that someone up there in this starry sky had decided to make Jongho’s life harder than necessary.

As he was sitting on a bench, observing Hongjoong lean against the river’s safety barrier, his phone rang. He watched his boyfriend look at his screen with furrowed eyebrows, answering and slowly make his way back to Jongho’s side.

“Hello? Mingi? Is there something wrong?” the blond asked worriedly, sitting down against Jongho’s side, while he wrapped a protective arm around his lover’s narrow shoulders.

The youngest heard muted wails through his boyfriend’s speaker, causing him to move it away from his ear with a wince. “What?”

They exchanged a skeptical look.

“No, I’m not gonna break up with Jongho, what the fuck?” Jongho startled, his heart’s pace picking up in his chest.

“What's going on?” He asked, confused, once Hongjoong hung up, after reassuring an apparently very distressed Mingi who suddenly felt very concerned about their couple. Jongho suspected that Yunho had made the mistake of telling his beanpole of a boyfriend about their earlier talk, and that said beanpole had not let him finish.

“I don’t know. Something about how I don’t love you anymore?” Hongjoong replied, with a disbelieving laugh. “Where did he get that idea?” Jongho could feel insecurities in his boyfriend’s voice. “You know I love you, right?”

The brunet softly smiled at him. “Of course, I know.” He gently bumped their nose together, squeezing him against him.

“You won’t break up because I don’t show you enough, right?” Hongjoong asked, covering his lack of confidence under mischievous eyes and a teasing elbow in his stomach. But Jongho knew his boyfriend better than his own hand, better than himself.

“Never,” he breathed out against his lover’s lips, proving his point with a chaste kiss at the corner of his plump lips.

Ultimately, Jongho decided that the ring box sitting in his jacket’s pocket could wait a bit more.

v.

Music was loudly playing, the bass guitar deafening him, vibrating through his skull and sending shivers down his spine, but he did not register anything at all. Not the music, not the group playing on the stage, not the neon lights blinding the crowd, nor the screaming crowd in itself.

This time nothing could go wrong – he had made sure of it. No cake to be dropped on him, his left hand was in his pocket playing with the velvety ring box, neither of them was anywhere near falling asleep, and their phones were turned off. Nothing could stop him from proposing to Hongjoong.

Jongho had taken Hongjoong to his favorite group’s concert – by surprise. He still felt the wave of fondness that had invaded his body when he had given the concert tickets to the blond; Hongjoong had beamed at him, happy to see the band live, rewarding the youngest with thousands of kisses all over his face.

The band would perform Hongjoong’s favorite song soon. It would be the perfect time to get down on his knees and offer the ring to his beautiful boyfriend and hopefully make him his fiance.

Jongho was determined. Even if his hands were shaking, his back was wet with sweat – a mix of the heat of the concert hall filled by thousands of people and of the anxiety-driven anticipation he was feeling.

Hongjoong was screaming, barely glancing at him. But it was okay. After all, he was enjoying himself, a huge smile stretching his lips and his blond hair sticking to his forehead from the excitement and jumping without a stop ever since the concert had begun.

Jongho’s heart jumped in his chest when the first notes of the long-awaited song echoed in the concert hall, his breath shaky. He caught Hongjoong’s hand in his, his palm clammy.

“Babe...” He murmured into his boyfriend’s ear, trying to catch his attention. But the blond shushed him, lightly swatting his other hand against his chest.

“Wait, wait, this is my favorite song.”

Jongho snorted at Hongjoong’s cute focused face and his sparkly eyes.

He got down to his knees in the middle of the crowd, and a few people gasped behind him. Nervously running a hand in his brown hair, taking the box out of his pocket, he pulled on Hongjoong’s hand to attract his eyes – in vain.

“Jongho, baby, not now, it’s the best part,” Hongjoong whined, never looking at him.

Jongho’s smiled turned embarrassed as he felt the eyes of the people behind them on him, slowly feeling a blush creep up his neck and cheeks. Clearing his throat, he discreetly sneaked the rings back in his pocket, suddenly feeling his confidence altogether leave his body.

In an awkward gesture, he pretended to lace up his shoe, avoiding the crowd’s stares. He sent an embarrassed smile to the group of girls giggling behind them.

Jongho wished a hole would swallow him up and get him away from the amused eyes of the people who saw his failed attempt at asking Hongjoong to marry him. Instead, he hugged Hongjoong’s arm, hiding his face in his neck, while the eldest kept his beaming smile turned to the stage, distractedly scratching the Jongho’s scalp.

\+ i.

Hongjoong heard Jongho roam around their house from their bed, lulled by his boyfriend’s energetic morning playlist – almost entirely composed of ABBA songs. Only his face was peaking from the blanket he was wrapped in, as he struggled to keep his eyes open. It was early, and he had no desire to get up and get ready to work.

Jongho seemed weirdly sulky ever since they had gotten home from the concert, the night before. He was not looking anywhere near Hongjoong, a permanent pout jutting his lips. He was cute, with this childish frown on his round face. So cute, Hongjoong wanted him to come back in bed and cuddle some more – to give himself enough courage to go on about his day.

They had a routine. Mornings were always tricky for Hongjoong. However, Jongho was always full of life the minute he stepped a foot outside their love cocoon. It had been like that for years, every single morning spent together went in the same warm was. It started with the first alarm loudly ringing, and the eldest would always fail to hear it, but during the ten minutes between the first and the second alarm, Jongho would pepper Hongjoong’s face with soft kisses, softly waking him up with sleepy words and morning breath. When the ten minutes were up and the second alarm rang through their bedroom, the youngest would try to struggle out of his boyfriend’s clasp, unwilling to let him go. Some days, Hongjoong would not let go until their third alarm, and some other days he would turn around, frowning, and hide under their blanket while Jongho broke the morning silence with a breathy laugh, grabbing his phone to turn his morning playlist on.

Hongjoong sometimes could not believe his luck when it came to his boyfriend. He would smile, hearing the soft shuffle of bare feet around the house, the strident noise of the coffee machine, muffled by the walls separating him from the kitchen. His guts filling up with a warm feeling as he imagined Jongho drink his coffee in tight black boxers, a look that they both knew made the blond swoon for the way it hugged his ass, the way it contrasted with his tan skin, the way it left his muscled body naked.

When Jongho came back to their bedroom, it was with a fuming mug that he left on the night-stand, promptly kissing Hongjoong’s forehead from where he was still hiding under the blanket, before disappearing inside the bathroom. The elder followed him with his sleepy eyes, gladly taking in the view his back full of hickeys offered to him.

The smell of coffee tickled his nose. Hongjoong fought the slumber making his limbs heavy to sit up and drink the hot beverage, humming to _dancing queen_ and listening to the sound of the shower. He guessed how red his boyfriend’s skin would look when he would come out of the bathroom, the heat of the water seeping in the bedroom.

When he heard Jongho turn the water off, Hongjoong quickly took one last sip of his coffee and got up, a baby blue plaid around his bare shoulders, pajama pants hanging low on his hips, and he waddled to the bathroom. The brunet was brushing his teeth, a towel wrapped around his waist, a hand supporting him on the edge of the sink.

Hongjoong felt his heart jump inside his ribcage, completely, utterly in love with this man. He snaked his arms around Jongho, nuzzling into his neck, leaving billions of small kisses on his shoulder blades, rubbing his cheek against his shivering skin.

And it was when Jongho intertwined their fingers above his heart – its pace calm, peaceful, Hongjoong loved to feel it beat with the same rhythm as his own – that he decided that he wanted to marry the shit out of this wonderful man that he could call his.

“Hey, let’s marry,” he whispered into the skin of the tallest.

And if Hongjoong had foreseen the surprised look he got in return to his words and perhaps anticipated him choking on his toothpaste, he really did not see coming the offended look he got.

Jongho turned around after spitting the toothpaste out in the sink, its foam still straining his plush lips, and he frowned down at him, while Hongjoong was resting his chin against his chest, quirking an eyebrow at him, refusing to let him go from his arms.

“Oh my god, you’re so infuriating,” the youngest whined with a disbelieving laugh, confusing Hongjoong. “I’ve been trying to propose to you for a month, and now you just do it when I’m brushing my teeth?”

Hongjoong laughed, stunned. “What?”

“Five times, five fucking times, and you ask me with your coffee breath and no ring? Oh my god, yes, I wanna marry you,” Jongho replied with a quavering voice, sudden tears pooling in his eyes, and the biggest grin growing on his lips. “I have the rings, let me get them.”

The blond smiled, fond, and raising himself on the tip of his toes, he softly bumped their nose together. “Wash your mouth first.” Jongho laughed, nodding, a happy sob spilling past his lips when Hongjoong left a gentle kiss on his cheek, wiping with his thumb a lone tear.

And with words of love, Jongho eventually succeeded in putting the ring around Hongjoong’s finger. Hongjoong cried from laughter when Jongho told him about the five times he failed to propose. Jongho decided that in the end, this was all perfect.

**Author's Note:**

> i hope you liked it, have a nice day or evening or night.
> 
> again happy birthday ako i love you!!!!!
> 
> [twt](https://twitter.com/mingiopom)  
> [cc](https://curiouscat.qa/etoilephilante)


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